Obamacare Winners and Losers

WINNERS: 10 more million Americans who have health insurance, large swaths of whom are “people between the ages of 18 and 34; blacks; Hispanics; and people who live in rural areas,” according to the New York Times. All groups who have been having a particularly hard time in this economic climate.

Young people have fared substantially worse in the job market than older people in recent years. Blacks and Hispanics have fared worse than whites and Asians. Rural areas have fallen further behind larger metropolitan areas.

WINNERS: The poor and people who sympathize with them. “People with the lowest incomes tended to benefit the most from the law.”

LOSERS: People who find any kind of redistribution of wealth distasteful. As Vox puts it,

Obamacare is becoming a huge weapon in the fight against inequality. … for those who live in low-income areas, Obamacare has made a world of difference. The uninsured rate for residents of poor counties fell by 9 percentage points, from 26.4 percent in 2013 to 17.5 percent now. … What we’re seeing now is Obamacare as an equalizer, giving lower-income Americans access to the benefits that have been held out of reach.

LOSERS: Democrats / people who like government, since the continued backlash against Obamacare means we’re going to wake up on November 5th to a Republican controlled House and Senate. I mean, on some level, sure, enjoy Congress, guys, it’s all yours! But it’s a definite setback to those of us who enjoyed getting the occasional progressive piece of legislation to the President’s desk. Like, you know, the ACA.

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